Ammunition and weapon damage

The HL2 prototype uses a different ammo system from the final. Instead of each gun using its own ammo, there are certain ammo types that weapons share. A list of weapons and the ammo type they use are below:

Ammo type

Weapons

Small round

SMG2

Medium round

Pistol, SMG1, AR1, AR2

Large round

HMG1.

Sniper round

Sniper Rifle.

Buckshot

Shotgun.

Flare

Flare Gun.

Missile Launcher grenade

RPG, IRifle (likely an error)

In addition, the player can only hold a certain amount of each type of ammo, no matter what weapon they use:

Ammo type

Amount that can be carried

Small round

150

Medium round

150

Large round

60

Sniper round

30

Buckshot

30

Flare

20

Missile Launcher grenade

3

Finally, weapons will do damage based on the ammo type they use, not the weapon itself. This means that the main differences between weapons in the prototype are their rate of fire and accuracy.

Ammo type

Damage

Small round

3 (Easy), 5 (Medium and Hard)

Medium round

5 (Easy), 8 (Medium and Hard)

Large round

15 (Easy), 15 (Medium and Hard)

Sniper round

20 (Easy), 50 (Medium), 35 (Hard)

Buckshot

5 per pellet (Easy), 8 per pellet (Medium and Hard)

Missile Launcher grenade

100

Cut Weapons

The vast majority of these weapons do not appear when the cheat "impulse 101" is used, suggesting that they were already cut before the prototype was compiled, but the team hadn't stripped the weapons from the game's code and removed the art and sound assets yet. The exceptions to this are the AR2 and the Tau Cannon.

Physgun

The Physgun is a weapon that can be used to move around physics objects, from boxes to dead bodies, around with a blue beam.

The Physgun's model looks similar to the final game's Gravity Gun, but it has a red rotator where the orange glowing core should be. The rotator rotates as long as the fire key is held down.

The alternate fire shoots a pink blob at any physics objects. When two objects with pink blobs on them are close to each other, the player can weld them together by hitting the alternate fire key while the blobs are emitting sparks.

The game Garry's Mod has re-implemented the Physgun, but without the ability to weld objects together and it has other improvements over the original Physgun.

In a default installation, the Physgun's model cannot be loaded because it uses an earlier model type. There are conversions out there that fix it.

Physgun

Gravity Gun

SMG2 (MP7)

The SMG2 is, as expected, another SMG. This one is based on the MP7 like the final SMG1 is, but uses an earlier and rougher-looking model, though the design appears to have been mostly reused for the final game's SMG1. An error makes the hologram on the gun's EOTech sight not have proper transparency.

It has two firing modes, automatic fire and three-round burst. In order for the three-round burst to work properly, the player must quickly tap the alternate fire key. If the alt-fire key is held down, the gun will shoot only one round, despite playing a sound that makes it seem like three rounds were fired. The gun is noticeably less accurate than the SMG1, and is only outclassed in bad accuracy by the HMG1.

Curiously, the SMG2 uses the SMG1's view model by default. The SMG2's script file must be altered in order for it to use its proper model.

AR1 (AK)

The AR1 (which is an AK rifle) is an assault rifle which has the unique ability of the player being able to change the gun's firing rate. Unlike the other automatic weapons, the AR1 has no animations and the arms use the AR1's animations instead of the proper ones.

The gun's firing rate can be changed with the alt-fire key. It has five firing rates, from very slow (likely to simulate semi-automatic mode) to a very fast rounds per minute. To swap from one mode to another, quickly hit the alt-fire key. Holding down the alt-fire key will make the gun constantly cycle through it's firing rates. Once the gun has reached its highest firing rate, it will go back to its lowest rate when the player hits the alt-fire key again.

The current fire rate is displayed with a very crude ASCII graphic that's printed on the top-left corner of the screen. It consists of five - characters with a | character that represents the currently-selected fire rate that replaces one of the -s. The further right the | is, the slower the gun will fire. A list of each firing rate is below.

Graphic

Firing rate

Very fast

Fast

Medium

Slow

Very slow

A comment in the FGD (file for level editing) included with the HL2 leak suggests that the citizens would wield the AR1 at one point.

An earlier texture for the weapon can be found in the folder "/materials/models/Weapons/Obsolete/v_ak47".

Used texture

Earlier texture

Earlier AR1 barrel texture.

AR2 (XM29 OICW)

The AR2 (based on the cancelled XM29 OICW) is a large assault rifle with a scope. The gun's accuracy is good when fired at full auto, though it has large recoil the longer the player holds down the fire key.

When the scope is activated with the alt-fire key, the game zooms in almost as much as it does when using the binoculars and puts a light green overlay on the screen. The gun is even more accurate when zoomed in. However, while looking down the scope, the gun's fire rate is lower, like Counter-Strike's AUG and Sig SG552.

The game's code, footage released a little bit before E3 2003, and the internal name for the SMG1's grenade (AR2_grenade) suggest that the AR2 was supposed to fire grenades as well (like its real life counterpart did), but this was scrapped. There are a few leftovers of this functionality in the AR2's code, but nothing that could easily be reactivated.

The XM29 OICW was replaced with the final's Overwatch Standard Issue Pulse Rifle (OSIPR), but the reloading animation for NPCs using the OSIPR is still based on them holding the OICW in the final game.

White the prototype AR2 uses the "Medium Round" ammo type, the FGD file indicates that the gun would use the "Large Round" type at one point.

An unused texture for an earlier OICW can be found in the prototype's files. This one was used on the OICW in some development screenshots shown in Raising the Bar.

Used texture

Unused texture

Unused texture

Image from Raising the Bar

AR2 world model.

Unused scope texture to go with the unused AR2 texture.

HMG1 (H&K GR9)

The HMG1 is an automatic machine gun using Large Rounds that can be toggled between full-auto and a three round burst with the right mouse button. It has horrendous accuracy (even in burst fire mode), but makes up for it with being the most powerful automatic firearm in the game.

Animations for Combine Soldiers using it can be found in the prototype and final game, suggesting they were meant to use it.

An earlier model called "v_hkgr9.mdl" exists in the game's files and can be activated by editing the HMG1's script file.

Despite the name, there is no evidence of an HMG2.

Used model

Unused model

Sniper Rifle

The Sniper Rifle is a large, single shot rifle with a scope. They player must reload the gun after each shot, but the gun is powerful enough to defeat any humanoid foe with a single headshot except in Easy difficulty.

The gun's scope can be zoomed in several levels.

In the final game, only enemies use the Sniper Rifle. Half-Life 2: Episode One and Episode Two lets Alyx use a revamped version of this rifle, but the player still cannot use it.

Interestingly, the reload sound for this weapon was used for enemy snipers in HL2 before the Orange Box update. After the update, they use the reload sound the 'Episode One and Episode Two version of this gun use.

Ammo for this weapon is still present in the retail files and can be obtained by typing in "give item_box_sniper_rounds" in the console. This version has a pink overlay with "OBSOL33T" (l33t speak for obsolete) in bright purple font.

An all-new sniper rifle based on the prototype's was used in the Japan-exclusive arcade game Half-Life 2: Survivor.

Sniper Rifle world model.

Prototype sniper rifle

Survivor sniper rifle

Prototype sniper rifle

Survivor sniper rifle

Tau Cannon (Gauss Gun)

A portable version of the Tau Cannon found on the buggy is usable in the prototype.

It operates similar to its counterpart in the original Half-Life the primary fires a powerful beam, while the alt-fire is used to charge up and fire a more powerful beam. The charged up beam at max charge can kill almost anything in the game with one hit.

Charging consumes more ammo than the primary fire does. When the player has hit the max charge, the game will play a beep sound, telling the player they no longer need to charge to increase damage.

Gauss jumping can be done with the Tau Cannon in the prototype, but the player will be sent flying horizontally instead of vertically and will take heavy damage from the blast, which they didn't in HL.

Unlike other cut weapons, this weapon does spawn when the command "Impulse 101" is uses, suggesting it was meant to be a usable weapon during the time the prototype was compiled.

Combine Guard Gun

The Combine Guard Gun is an energy cannon that shoots a large energy blast that can kill anything in one hit and leaves a "warped screen" effect similar to the laser fired by the Strider. The description for the Combine Guard's Gun in the leaked Source source code indicates that it was meant to be used to defeat Striders.

Right after the gun fires, a pipe-shaped object on the left side of the gun juts up, a circle-shaped object twists 180 degrees then back, then pipe goes down.

The weapon does not have a unique texture; it uses the old, red HEV arm texture, but stretched out over the model.

It uses its own unique ammo.

Immolator

This flamethrower was carried by the Cremators, and will set alight any NPC it hits. It has a green-colored plasma beam that branches out at the end, and becomes stuck when fired for too long.

By default, the game uses the Combine Guard Gun's model for the Immolator. Editing the Immolator's script file can make the proper model appear. However, the gun itself will have the old arm texture on the gun instead of a proper texture, like the Combine Guard Gun's model.

Firing the Immolator.

Missile Launcher (FIM-92 Stinger)

Resources for an earlier RPG called the Missile Launcher (which is modeled on the real-life FIM-92 Stinger) are in the games files, but it cannot be spawned in-game. The ML can be found in some early maps made in 2001 in the WC Mappack.

The RPG's ammo name comes from from the Missile Launcher, as the name for it is "ml_grenade", which stands for "Missile Launcher grenade".

The code for the Missile Launcher exists in the Source source code leak, but it cannot be spawned in the HL2 prototype.

Hopwire Grenade

The Hopwire Grenade is a special grenade that, when thrown, sends out blue strands that stick to walls. When these strands are touched, the grenade explodes. Can crash the game in certain circumstances.

Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov Cocktail is a grenade that was removed from the final game. When picked up, it uses the Brickbat's Headcrab model, but uses the proper model when thrown. The weapons code also depends on the Brickbat's code.

When the grenades hits the ground it explodes, but the code indicates that it would create fires around the detonation area as well.

The ammo icon the the Molotov uses the 40mm grenade icon used in the original Half-Life, while the HUD icon is the Snark icon from the same game.

When the Molotov is taken out, the game prints the message "Drawing Molotov..." on top of the screen.

Molotov Cocktail's world model.

S.L.A.M.

The S.L.A.M. is a weapon that serves as a replacement for the Satchel Charges and Tripwire Mines in the original Half-Life.

By default, the SLAM is similar to the Satchel Charge in Half-Life; the primary key tosses a SLAM. Once the SLAM has been thrown, the player can detonate the SLAM with the alternate fire key. Unlike the Satchel Charge, the SLAM can also be mounted on walls. Gordon will automatically switch to wall-mounted mode once the player is close enough to a wall.

However, hitting the alternate fire key without having tossed a SLAM will switch the SLAM to laser mine mode, letting the player use them like the Tripwire Mines in Half-Life. Basically, a mine can mounted to a wall or floor. When this is done, it will emit a laser. Any enemy that walks over the laser will cause the SLAM to explode, dealing heavy damage.

This weapon reappeared with a new model in Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.

In a default installation, the S.L.A.M.'s model cannot be loaded because it uses an earlier model type. There are conversions out there that fix it.

Satchel Charge mode.

Wall-mounted Satchel Charge mode.

Mine mode.

S.L.A.M. world model

Brickbat

The Brickbat is an improvised weapon that would let the player throw certain objects in the world against enemies. These items are:

Rock

Beer bottle

Cremator head

Headcrab (which looks like the final's Fast Headcrab, not the regular Classic Headcrab)

According to the code for the Brickbat's tossed objects, objects thrown with the Brickbat weapon will do a certain amount of damage only after they have reached a certain velocity.

The Brickbat's code is included with the Source source code leak, but the weapon cannot be spawned in the leaked HL2 prototype.

The FGD (file for level editing) included with the HL2 leak suggests that the citizens would be able to throw beer bottles like the player could. The code is still in the game, but need to be fixed in order to work.

Cremator head

Headcrab

Flare Gun

The Flare Gun is a single-shot gun that fires a flare that arcs soon after firing it. When a flare hits an enemy, it will set the target on fire, eventually killing it. The gun must be reloaded after each shot, but the animation appears to be bugged; the gun does not open up and Gordon inserts the new round into the air instead of the barrel.

An earlier texture for a Flare Gun with a red grip appears in the files. This one appears to be hand-drawn instead of taken from pictures, like the usable Flare Gun is.

The most interesting part of the Flare Gun is an odd and unused texture for it in the files. It shows the Flare Gun with Gordon's arm attached to it, but the HEV Suit looks completely different to any seen in the prototype or the final game. It appears to be made out of leather and has no orange on it. Some concepts featuring this HEV Suit can be found in the Raising the Bar book.

The Flare Gun technically appears in the final game, but is only used by enemies to signal other enemies that the player is nearby. The model used in the prototype does not appear in the final game.

Used model

Unused texture

Arm texture showing the old flare gun texture.

Incendiary Rifle

The Incendiary Rifle (also called IRifle) is a five-shot flaregun that can set enemies alight, but has a very short range. It has an extremely long reload time and reloads each round one at a time.

The weapon models and icons were recycled for the retail AR2 (a.k.a. OSIPR), as the model name ("irifle") kept this name.

Note that this weapon uses the the "Missile Launcher grenade" ammo type instead of flares, which one would expect the IRifle to use.

IRifle

OSIPR

Incendiary Rifle world model

Menu icon

Ice Axe

The Ice Axe is internally a copy of the Crowbar, but with a faster swing speed. Its swinging sound was reused for the Crowbar in both the prototype and the final game.

Ice Axe

Stunstick

The Stunstick (or Stun Baton) is an electrically-charged club. It was used for the Metropolice and then later found its way to games like Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. It cannot be used by the player in the final game but the viewmodel is still present in the final's game files.

The "obsolete" folder found in the "models" directory has a "p_stunstick" model. P models are only used in the original Half-Life, which means this model is a very old leftover.

Stun Baton world model.

Binoculars

The Binoculars are a pair of green binoculars that let the player zoom in. This weapon can zoom in much further away than the built-in zoom option the player has in both the prototype and the final game.

Inside the weapon's sound folder are several unused sounds, including yodeling and several buzzing sounds. These are likely related to an unused function mentioned in the Binocular's code that would let the player detect the sources of certain sounds with the weapon.

Despite not being given when the "impulse 101" code is used, this weapon does appear in the maps "d1_town_02" and "d1_town_04" in the prototype.

Binocular world model.

v_jaytest

V_jaytest is an odd weapon. It appears as a very early world model for the SMG1 back when it was the MP5K. It only has placeholder animations.

This model's textures can be found in the "materials/models/weapons/obsolete" folder in the "w_mp5k" and "p_mp5k" folders, along with, oddly, the Civil Protection texture folder.

Another interesting bit about the model is that the back texture on v_jaytest is incorrect; it uses a very old Civil Protection texture instead of it's proper texture. This, combined with the fact that the textures for the Mp5k world model used in v_jaytest also appear in the Civil Protection's texture folder, hints that Civil Protection police once had the MP5 permanently attached to their model, like enemies in the original Half-Life did. If so, this makes this model a very, very old leftover.

V_jaytest's bugged back.

Sticky Launcher

The Sticky Bomb uses the same model, ammo type, and magazine size as the Pistol, but instead of firing bullets, it fires pink blobs that stick on anything they touch. These blobs can be detonated by hitting the alternate fire key, doing a good amount of damage per explosion.

Sticky Bomb

Fire Extinguisher

The fire extinguisher can be used to put out any fires in a map. However, the lighting effects associated with a fire do not disappear as well. The "spray" effects do not play without modification.

It can be found in maps for the cut Borealis area in the WC Mappack.

Fire Extinguisher world model.

Thumper

The player can spawn a portable thumper (the device that keeps Antlions away) with the console command "give weapon_thumper".

This item uses the S.L.A.M.'s view model, but when thrown, it appears as a yellow fire hydrant. As expected, it creates shockwaves that keep any Antlions away. It can be picked up for reuse.

Antlions running away from a player-placed Thumper.

Rollerwand

The Rollerwand is a removed weapon that can be spawned with the command "give weapon_rollerwand". It can be used to control Rollermines so they'll attack enemies instead of you.

Like the Thumper weapon, it uses the S.L.A.M.'s view model.

A similar ability was added in Episode One, but Alyx reprograms Rollermines to be friendly, not the player.

Manhack

The prototype has some code and a model for a Manhack weapon. When equipped, it makes a Manhack blade from an old Manhack version appear near the bottom of the screen and constantly twirl. It does no damage.

This weapon was meant to be used as a part of a scrapped minigame that could be played early in Half-Life 2. The player was meant to go to a place called the Manhack Arcade, where the player would be allowed to control a Manhack in a video game and kill things with it. The twist was that the player was actually controlling a real Manhack and was killing real people with it.

When the Manhack Arcade was cut, the Manhack weapon went with it.

Used weapons

Gravity Gun

The Gravity Gun has a higher-resolution texture compared to the final.

In the game, the Gravity Gun is a lot finickier when trying to pick up items compared to the final Gravity Gun, but it is otherwise the same as the final.

The "super" Gravity Gun texture is not in this prototype.

A texture for an earlier Gravity Gun model can be found in the Gravity Gun's texture folder.

Prototype texture

Final texture

Final texture

Earlier Gravity Gun texture

Pistol

The Pistol has a larger, slightly lighter texture compared to the final game and ejects spent casings when fired, which the final Pistol does not.

Hidden in the files are earlier textures for the Pistol that are spread around different texture files instead of being on on sheet. The Pistol that used these textures appeared in a pre-release image.

Prototype texture

Final texture

Old magazine.

Old grip.

Old hammer.

Old weight.

Old weight at the front of the gun.

Pre-release screenshot showing the old Pistol using the previous textures.

SMG1

Compared to the final SMG1, the prototype one has a cleaner skin, the magazine holds 30 rounds (instead of 45), and it has a slower rate of fire. The color map texture was re-used as the SMG1's color map texture in the Half-Life 2: Episode games.

What's most interesting however, is that the game's files suggest that the SMG1 was meant to be an MP5K at one point. The SMG1's world model is an MP5K, and textures for an MP5K can be found in the SMG1's texture folders. This change appears to have happened before E3 2003, as Alyx can be seen handing the player an MP5K that turns into the final SMG1 when the player picks it up in the "Lab" demonstration.

Earlier textures for the MP5K incarnation of the SMG1 can be found in the folder "/materials/models/weapons/obsolete/v_hkmp5k".

The texture for the SMG2's magazine can be found in the SMG1's texture folder.

Prototype texture

Final texture

"Current" MP5K texture

Older MP5K texture

MP5K texture

MP5K

Menu icon

Shotgun

The Shotgun has a completely different model in the prototype. The weapon is overall much thinner than it is in the final game, the pump has a different shape, the colors are brighter, and the ejection port is on the left side of the gun instead of right, like it is in the final game. This model can be seen as late as the E3 2004 video, suggesting it was cut late.

Gameplay-wise, the Shotgun is the same as it is in the final game.

Prototype

Final

Prototype firing sound

Final firing sound

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Prototype double barrel firing sound

Final double barrel firing sound

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Grenade

The grenade's viewmodel skin is the same as the final's, but the world model has a skin that is a brighter green and smaller compared to the final game.

An unused skin in the grenade's texture folder indicates that the view model grenade's body would've used a higher resolution version of the prototype world model at one point. This skin would be much more detailed and show the real life name and type of grenade the HL2 grenade is based on.

When thrown, the grenade does not beep nor is there a red light on the grenade, making it harder to find when thrown by enemies. It is also thrown closer to the player than it is in the final game.

There is a small bug with the alternate fire mode; the alt-fire toss animation shows a single frame of Gordon's alt-fire toss animation instead of playing the sequence properly.

Prototype

Final

Unused view model texture

Prototype world model texture

RPG

The RPG's skin is larger in the prototype than it is in the final game and has green around the empty spaces on the texture sheet instead of black.

In the prototype, the alt-fire button can be used to toggle the tracking laser on or off. This has been disabled in the final game, forcing the player to always have the laser on.

An earlier model for the RPG called the "Rocket Launcher" can be found in the game's files, but it cannot be loaded by default because it uses an earlier model format.